Glorious civilization. οιμοι.

I'm back from the wilderness. First, it was Wales. Then a small Spanish village which had apparently never heard of the internet or mobile phone signal. Then it was Ancient Greek camp at Bryanston, situated in a tiny village called Blandford. The clue's in the name. Ancient Greek camp was actually a lot of fun. I met Jesus. He's a pretty cool guy. He translated Euripides for me, but it turns out that I speak Spanish better than him. Not so hot on the modern languages, eh? I now keep on dropping Greek words into everyday conversation. I think I've lost all vestiges of sanity. οιμοι.

On another note, Cincinnati, argh. Yet again, I find myself disappointed in my dearest Novak. I was overjoyed when I found out that he had knocked out Rafa (naturally, le quiero, pero...Novak es mejor), but then he let himself be defeated in the final by Andy Murray. ANDY BLOODY MURRAY of all people. Benast govno. He's just so arrogant. I still haven't gotten over the time when he flexed his muscles after the Gasquet match at Wimbledon. Bezmozgaš. Fortunately, he went out today in the first round of the Beijing Olympics. Thank heavens. Srećom, Novak went through in straight sets against Robby Ginepri, however tomorrow he'll face Rainer Schuettler, who reached the semis at Wimbledon in a series of upsets earlier this season. Hopefully, Novak will avoid another shock exit this time (although at Wimbledon he went out to Marat Safin, whom ja mrzim). Thankfully (for the sake of my blood pressure) Safin is not competing at Beijing, although his sister, Dinara Safina, is. In fact, she beat the Italian Mara Santangelo in the first round earlier today. My other main Serbian title-hope is the lovely Jelena Jankovic, who went through her first round match in straight sets. Fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic is also sadly not competing, nor is Croat Mario Ancic, both of whom I'm quite upset not to be seeing. Alas, I shall console myself with Novak. Napredovati, Nole!

Poljubi me, Novak.

The curse continues. Yesterday, the last two Serbs left in the singles draw at Wimbledon came crashing out in the fourth round. Number two seed, Jelena Jankovic, went out in straight sets to the unseeded wildcard entry, Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-3, 6-2. Meanwhile, in the men's singles, Janko Tipsarevic went out in four sets to Germany's Rainer Schuettler, who won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6. Poljubi me u dupe, Rainer.

Ana Ivanovic & Jelena Jankovic

Seeing as I can no longer curse the Serbs with my support, I have switched to supporting Croatia's Mario Ancic. However, he faces Roger Federer, reigning Wimbledon Champion of 5 years in the Quarters tomorrow, and I am not very hopeful at all. One good thing is that Ancic was actually the last person to beat Federer on grass (albeit about a million years ago, when dinosaurs walked the earth). I briefly began to support Agnieszka Radwanska, the very talented 19 year old Pole, in her match against the formidable Serena Williams today, but that was a mistake. Again, she lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0. She is one to watch, though - her shots have incredible accuracy. I promise never to support her again, for the good of her career.

Mario Ancic

It looks increasingly like a Williams-Williams final for the women's singles (and they're storming the doubles, too). On the men's side, it may be a Federer-Nadal final for the third year running. And perhaps Nadal has improved enough this year to prove a real test for Federer. But now I've made my prediction, it won't happen. Oops. Sorry, Rafa. The one thing I am hoping for is for Rafa to completely crush Andy Murray tomorrow. Yes, I will probably get shot if any Brits read this. But I just can't stand that man. I had rather hoped that Gasquet would finish him off yesterday (but as soon as I tuned in, when Gasquet was two sets up, guess what happened?). Please let Rafael be strong enough to survive the curse of my support, because I will be extremely angry if Murray makes it to the semis. Not to mention the fact that Nadal is probably the only one left in the draw who is possibly strong enough to overpower Federer.

Another person who needs crushing tomorrow - Marat Safin. Yes, I am still carrying around a weight of anger towards him since he put out my beloved Novak. Yesterday, I hoped that Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland would put him out in Round Four, but of course it was not to be. After screaming my way through the first two Safin-dominated sets, I gave up on watching the match, as I wanted to save my voice (and to save myself from an anger-induced heart attack). So tomorrow it falls to Nadal's fellow countryman, Feliciano Lopez, to take on Safin. ¡Vamos, Feliciano!

Novak - Istinska ljubav. Sam zgodan :D

Am I the kiss of death for Serbian tennis??

Maybe it would be better for Serbia if I just stopped supporting their tennis players.

Why?

Both Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic have already made their exits from the Wimbledon Championships, being held just a few miles away from where I live. Unsurprisingly, I was supporting Ana for the women's title, and Novak for the men's. They both have excellent records; Novak won the Australian Open earlier this year, and went into the championships ranked #3 in the world; Ana won Roland Garros this year and went in ranked #1 in the world. Yet they went out in the second and third rounds respectively.

Out of 7 Serbian players to enter the singles draw, only 2 remain - Janko Tipsarevic and Jelena Jankovic, both of whom are yet to play their third round matches. I'm seriously considering not watching the matches tomorrow in case I'm some kind of curse for Serbian tennis. I still am not yet ready to accept the fact that Novak is out of the championships, and I'm deeply bitter towards Marat Safin, who beat him in straight sets (6-4, 7-6, 6-2). Everytime I see Safin on TV, I end up shouting "Idi do djavola" or something even less restrained at him in Serbian. Mrzim te, Marat.

Anyway, when it comes to the US Open later this year, I hope that the thousands of miles of distance between myself and the tournament will break my support curse. On that note, I'll leave you with another picture of Novak, for good measure.